Archive for March, 2011

In the fall of 1968 when I was seventeen years old a friend of mine, Bob, was visiting Los Angeles and he asked me, “Would you drive me to a rock concert at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California? I’ll pay for the gas and buy you a ticket to the concert if you’ll take me.”

“Sure”, I replied, “Who’s playing?”

“It’s a really far out guy named Jimi Hendrix. He’s the most bitchin dude I’ve ever heard. His group is called The Jimi Hendrix Experience.”

“I’ve never heard of him, but that’s okay I always like to see the latest rock-and-roll. I’ll need to get a map to figure out how to drive there. That’s a really long drive and will probably take about two hours. ”

Bob was ecstatic; “Far out, I will score the tickets right away. Later.”

That week I spoke to a friend of mine named Clay and told him, “I’m going to be taking my friend Bob to a concert out in San Bernardino to see some guy named Jimi Hendrix.”

Clay exploded with, “You’ve got to take me with you. I just love Jimi Hendrix’s righteous music. I’ll buy a ticket and help pay for the gas if you will take me?”

“Solid,” I replied, “I always like going to a concert with a lot of people. So get your ticket and meet at my house this Saturday. I’m sure Bob will have no problems about your jamming with us.”

“I’m stoked. Catch you on Saturday,” Clay said.

The three of us gathered at my house early that Saturday afternoon, Bob had brought his 35 mm camera to record the event. We set out for our rock concert journey in my 1967 lime green Ford Mustang. Bob kept stating over and over, “Hendrix has just got to play my favorite song “Purple Haze” it’s the grooviest song I’ve ever heard. I can’t wait for you to be able to hear that song.”

Many hippies with their long hair, beads, feathers, leather and non-conformist attitude of peace and love, were gathered outside the Swing Auditorium, which looked like a high school gymnasium building. The three of us were far from being hippies; we were middle class not willing to live the free lifestyle, usually drug laden, that so many flower children were involved in. It was a typical rock concert to me except it was taking place in a very out of the way location; I was use to concerts taking place in Hollywood. My main concern at that moment was remembering where the car was parked so we could find it quickly after the concert.

The three of us entered the auditorium and were disheartened to see that it was open seating. There were no assigned seats so it was a free-for-all on where you sat. I really hated this type of concert seating because if you got up to go to the bathroom you would lose your seat or your place in the crowd. The auditorium had space for about 1000 people. Bob said, “I want to get as close to the stage as possible. Let’s make a beeline to the front of the stage.” I looked up and noticed a poster hanging next to the stage. It was a picture of a young black man with crazy hair, looking very arrogant and sexy. I only liked rock-and-roll music so I was beginning to think that I was going to hear black soul music.

There were folding chairs surrounding the outer perimeter of the stage. Toward the front of the stage there was no chairs, it was just an open floor for people to stand on. Bob led the two of us to the very front of the stage, pushing and shoving whoever was in his path. I was glad that there were two young men with me so that I would not be beat up or hassled by the fans. I knew that mild hippies could go berserk without too much provocation from my previous experience of being attacked, trampled by fans, and beaten up by police at previous concerts. It was impossible for us to talk because of the loud noise of the crowd. We staked out our positions at the front of the stage.

The fire marshal came out and made an announcement, “This concert is going to be canceled due to the fire hazard of so many people unruly in this auditorium. If you don’t sit down immediately we will close down this concert.”

Suddenly this black man came on to the darkened stage and yelled into the microphone, “Shut the f**k up, I want to play.” The entire auditorium went silent and everyone sat down immediately. “Who was that?” I couldn’t see who it was because of the darkness on the stage; I had never heard anything like this being said to an audience before.

The fire marshal came back and said to the crowd,” OK because you’re all cooperating we will let this concert continue.”

The lights came on the stage; there were already musical instruments set up just waiting for the performers to bring them to life. The crowd started going crazy with excitement. The three of us were being pushed very hard into the wall of the stage. The stage was approximately five feet high and I felt like a tomato being squished against the stage, I couldn’t get any closer unless I was on the stage. I was slightly separated by a few feet from Bob and Clay, but they were still within eye contact, it reassured me to see their faces as any moment I could be pushed down or trampled by the body’s pushing me into the stage.

From offstage came these two white men with crazy Afro’s looking like tendrils reaching into the universe, one sat at the drums, the other picked up a bass guitar to play. The anxiety of the crowd increased when out came the same black man I had seen on the poster. “So this is Jimi Hendrix,” I thought to myself. He was wearing maroon colored velvet pants with an embroidered jacket, beautifully spaced out hair and carrying a white guitar. He was smiling and spoke to the crowd, “Good evening everybody, it’s really cool that you all shut up so I could play. I just want to groove with you this evening. So let me just, ah, get you experienced.” I recognized the voice as the one who had said earlier “Shut the f**k up I want to play”.

The moment Jimi strummed the first note of the guitar the audience went crazy with excitement and I realized I was not going to see a Motown soul artist. I maintained my place next to the stage as the audience was so entranced by the music they were no longer pushing and shoving. Jimi started playing a song called, “Fire”. The sounds emanating from his guitar were like a foreign language to me, mysterious, beautiful, different and dangerous. Jimi contorted his face with each chord movement; it was like seeing the chords even if you didn’t know them. The music was so loud it physically penetrated my body. It was as though I had become the instrument that he was playing. I was moving to each sound he made without any control of my body.

The next song he played changed my life forever; it was called “Purple Haze”, just like Bob had promised it was one of the greatest songs I had ever heard. During this number the time came for his solo, Jimi started playing the guitar with his teeth! Jimi didn’t miss a single chord, the music was perfect. Never had I seen anybody play the guitar with his teeth. I was mesmerized by this performance. Next he flung his guitar behind his back and continued to play, never missing a note, his face was ecstatic. I did not know any of his music so each song was a revelation to me. To my left I saw Bob clicking away on his camera-taking photograph after photograph.

Just when I thought I had seen everything Jimi surprised me further, during the song “Are You Experienced?” Jimi started his solo and went down on his knees with his guitar between his legs, moving it back and forth along his crotch, simulating masturbation. I had never seen anything like this in my life. I couldn’t believe what he was doing in front of the crowd of people. It was as though his own music sexually stimulated him. When Jimi had finished the masturbation simulation he stood up and went over to the large speakers with his guitar in front of him. Jimi started slamming his body and the guitar up against the speakers as though he was having sex with them, never missing a chord of music. The more intense the music became the faster and harder he slammed into the speakers, it was as though the music was both ecstasy and agony for Jimi.

My body continued to vibrate as Jimi played on for the next 45 minutes. I could not consciously think as the music played, every fiber of my brain was filled with music the likes of which it had never experienced before or since. There were moments in the music where I felt like I was falling backwards in time, and then Jimi would propel me forward into outer space. It became evident why the group was called “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”; there was no way you could listen to the music without experiencing your life differently from that point on.

When the concert was over Jimi said to the crowd, “It was really groovy tonight, I’m glad I was able to share my music. I wish you all peace and love.” When he exited the stage the entire auditorium went ballistic begging him to come back, which he did. His encore was the climax of the evening for me, as he played “The Star Spangled Banner” unlike any version I had ever heard before. I could just feel the bombs bursting in air and the bullets flying by, as the sounds emanated from his guitar. How this one man captured the sound of war in his guitar was amazing, the mark of a true genius.

Jimi blew kisses to the audience as he and his band exited for the last time. He left like he entered, smiling. This man seemed to truly love what he was doing at that moment. I was still feeling stunned by this experience when Bob and Clay joined me. They were just delirious about the music. As we were exiting the building there were vendors selling two different albums by Jimi Hendrix. I had to purchase the albums right then and there; I did not want to go home without being able to take a part of that experience with me.

My ears were still ringing from the vibrations of the music. The three of us were very quiet on the drive back home. We were just letting what had happened to us absorb into our beings; we each knew that we had been changed by this experience. We would never view the world and our surroundings the same after this. You cannot go back to being a regular high school kid when your whole body just went through an alignment that none of your peers had ever witnessed or felt. Jimi Hendrix said it best when he stated that once you heard his music “You’ll never hear surf music again”. Meaning that you cannot go back to the easy California lifestyle when new sounds and vibrations have expanded your mind as well as your body.

This point was brought home to me the next day. I took my two prized Jimi Hendrix albums to my girlfriend Donna’s house so she could hear the incredible masterful music I had just been enlightened by the night before. “You’re really going to like this musician. He is like nothing you have ever heard before. I can’t get over this concert,” I told her while placing the album on the record player.

She sat quietly through the first two songs before she exclaimed, “Turn that music off. It sounds like Martian music.” She wanted her music to be simple and uncomplicated. I now resonated to a different vibration. I knew I was not the same young girl I had been before. My change was mirrored to me by my girlfriend’s reaction. My consciousness had been altered forever by the magic of Jimi Hendrix’s music.

I will be your friend all the way until the end
I send you Light And Love from our Lord up above
Thank you for everything you have taught me
It all truly means alot to me
When you’re in heaven I will thank the Lord
for the friendship I was given
I only wish that we had more time
so I could find the right words to thank you for everything.
I don’t want to let you go, but I have no choice
I miss you I love you more.

Thank you for sending me such a beautiful tribute to our friendship. I am grateful that you have been a part of my life. I will always treasure and love you.
Cherokee Billie

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A friend of mine opened his wife’s underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:
“This, – he said – isn’t any ordinary package.” He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

“She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on. Was saving it for a special occasion.

Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothings he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:
“Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion”.

I still think those words changed my life. Now I read more and clean less. I sit on the porch without worrying about anything. I spend more time with my family, and less at work. I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses every day. I’ll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if i feel like it. I don’t save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to. The words “Someday…” and “One Day…” are fading away from my dictionary. If it’s worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now.

I don’t know what my friend’s wife would have done if she knew she wouldn’t be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.

She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I’d like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favourite food. It’s these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come. I would regret it, because I would no longer see the friends I would meet, letters… letters that i wanted to write “One of this days”. I would regret and feel sad, because I didn’t say to my brothers and sons, not times enough at least, how much I love them.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives. And, on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

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Unfortunately I will not be able to do this program due too bad health. Hopefully in the future I will be back.

Join me on Tuesday March 29, 2011 at 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, as I am a guest on the program Literary Scribes with the host Candy. Together we will be doing Psychic Readings for one hour. You can call with your questions at (323)-580-6728. If you are unable to join the program live you can always listen to it later as it will be available in the archives. Remember the chat room will be open for your comments as well.

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Do you ever get the feeling that what you have experienced spiritually in your past no longer serves you and don’t feel a “fit” with other religions or beliefs? Perhaps you are someone who feels that they must strike out on their own and “leave home” so to speak. This is a time of great spiritual change as the worlds of the spirit and this material one are co-mingling. As you already “Feel” one is layered on top of the other. You are awakening to a very strong pull of the spirit that is calling to you. This pull is what some call God, source energy, and (I feel more aptly) The Light. It is a surge of spiritual power that is more solid than stone or the ground under your feet. There is no need to feel fearful. If you weren’t ready for this next step you wouldn’t have been called. It is just that simple. It is what led Buddha to renounce his life of luxury as a prince; called Christ into the wilderness and has reached out to many inspired teachers and people throughout history. It calls you to the oneness of all and to leave your old ways of fearful Us vs Them thinking behind you. You are being called to the remembering of who and what you are. You are being called into the Light. You are being called into a life of service to Life and Love.

Here is a short questionnaire that should help you find out if this is something that is calling out to you in your life.

AM I A LIGHT WORKER?

Answer the Questions Below

1) Do you feel a sense of time urgency within you?

2) Do you feel draw to help humanity?

3) Do you feel draw to spirituality?

4) Do you get a persistent ringing sound in your ear?

5) Have you been told by others that you are too sensitive?

6) Do you feel different from others?

7) Do you believe that spiritual methods can heal any situation?

8. Do you know that you are here for a higher purpose?

If you answered yes to these questions and resonate with the definitions of a Light Worker given, the chance is that you are a light worker, however, only you can truly answer this question for yourself. You may also have tried to follow your families’ religion devoutly, but feel that you have not felt like you are getting the right answers or maybe you have just “outgrown” it and feel the need to search on your own. If you feel this need and you receive the prompts, you are on your new path. You have reached a point on your journey where you are ready for a spiritual upgrade. This is why you are here and why we are talking to each other. I have been where you are and I know the feeling of hollowness and spiritual hunger. You need renewal. In this community and similar ones you will find what you are looking for.

Know that what you are experiencing is real. Do not worry about what anyone else thinks about regarding your experience. All you have to remember is that to those of us who receive this feeling no explanation is necessary. To the others who don’t know no explanation will suffice. You are embarking on a journey that will lead you to many new and wonderful experiences.

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It is time for us to spiritually shed the dead parts of winter from our souls and make way for the new growth that is being released at this sacred time. This is your opportunity to advance your soul growth. Do not let this moment pass you by. It is easy to say that I will do it tomorrow or the next day or the next day, and soon you will discover that ten years have gone behind you, and you will wonder what you did with your life during that time.

Blossom just like spring flowers and continue to get deeply rooted in changing your life and becoming a gentle spirit that blesses everyone you encounter. Just like angels and fairies send blessings as they pass by let this be your gift to everyone in your life.

Clean and shine the diamond of your soul and let that light shine before everyone, so that people wonder as you pass by-what it was that just touched their soul.

The Bible – Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

I pray for you, even if I don’t know you, every day. I know that no prayer goes unanswered and I pray for each person to be touched by the spirit of love and be transformed into a sparkling diamond that reflects the light of God and Love.

Shine on you precious diamond! Ten years from now you will look back in amazement at how much you have grown and changed your part of the world.